| Synopsis: |
This White Paper presents the Government's proposals on party funding, which follow the broad approach outlined by Sir Hayden Phillips in his report "Strengthening Democracy: Fair and Sustainable Funding of Political Parties - The Review of the Funding of Political Parties (March 2007)" (ISBN 9780108507113). It also takes account of the Constitutional Affairs Committee report "Party Funding (HC 163-I)" (ISBN 9780215031853) and the Committee on Standards in Public Life's (CSPL), "Review of the Electoral Commission (Cm. 7006)" (ISBN 9780101700627), all of which are available to buy below.The Government proposes to: clarify the Electoral Commission's role as an effective regulator of party funding and campaign expenditure; provide it with a widened range of sanctions and investigatory powers and to change the various bars and rules on the appointment of Commissioners and recruitment of staff if they have recently been involved in political activity; and, increase the number of Commissioners to ten.The Government agrees with the CSPL recommendation that responsibility for setting electoral boundaries should be removed from the Commission and the Boundary Committee for England should become an independent body. It is also widely agreed that perceived 'excessive' spending by political parties is a cause of public concern. The Government will update and broaden the definition of campaign spending and will aim for the agreement of all parties based on Sir Hayden's package of proposals for comprehensive spending limits.The paper also reviews the case for a donation cap and public funding of political parties. Sir Hayden had suggested a cap of GBP 50,000 but the Government believes a lower limit would be appropriate. Greater transparency on donations is essential. On public funding, the Government acknowledges the wide differences of opinion on how best to achieve reform and does not intend to legislate until some consensus is reached with all parties. |